Phantom: The Secret Keeper
by Darcyjackal
Summary: Danny Phantom from the beginning, written how I would have written it. Serious AU and character twists here-but no slashes! I despise slashes-I find it rather creepy. No death though-other then the characters who are already dead of course.
1. Chapter 1

**_This story is like Cori's _**_Real Life, **and yet not. This is taking Danny Phantom to a different level-mainly, my level. This is Phantom from my persective and how I would write it if it was my creation-which it is not by the way, but I find great inspiration from this show and other fics. If you like my other stories, this is sure to be a blast! **_

**_I do not own Danny Phantom (what a bummer)_**

* * *

Chapter 1—

Amity Park, you could almost hear the bugles softly blowing as you were introduced to it. It was a strongly advancing town—great educational system, amazing advances in technology, and the most spectacular sightseeing areas in the whole state of Illinois. The only thing people had to be wary of, was one of the eyesores of the town—besides the highschool that is.

"Fire in the hole!"

The whole block that the Fenton's lived on did a slight earthquake number as smoke came billowing out of the basement windows. The neighbors rushed out to make sure they didn't need to call the police again or to spit angry words into the Fenton's empty front lawn.

A rather large man came out of the front door, waving the smoke out with him as he coughed to clear his lungs. His jumpsuit—yes jumpsuit—was a brilliant orange with black gloves and boots, smudged in soot and singed in places, saying that he had been pretty close to the explosion in his basement.

"It's alright!" he shouted to the angry and concerned people. "No fire, just slight feedback on the portal connection to the house."

A much smaller form stepped out into the front lawn, carrying a bucket filled with glowing green gunk. Her jumpsuit was a teal blue, showing off her curvy frame and also saying that she was dangerous if she wanted to be. She went over to the gutter and splashed the contents down the street.

"Hope the rats don't mutate again," she said, the accent of her Irish decent showing in her voice, then noticed the neighbors staring at her. "False alarm!" she yelled to reassure them.

"DAD!" came the shriek from the upstairs window. "What the heck are you doing this time?"

"Hey Jazzy-pants!" the large man turned and waved to his red-headed daughter. "Guess what, we think we can make the portal work this time!"

"Dad, you've been saying that ever since you found the old blueprints for that four years ago," the teenager looked angry and aggrieved with her father. "When are you going to get it that there are no ghosts!"

Jazz shut the windows before Jack could reply by blathering on about how obvious it was that ghosts existed—but the list is rather long and I don't want to bore you dear reader.

Many couldn't figure out the Fenton family. The parents were ghost obsessive, but never seemed to fail in their job as parents. The woman—Maddie—was very smart and very nurturing as a mother, she could also protect her kids with that ninth-degree black-belt she had framed in their front room along with the many sparing trophies on the mantel. The husband—Jack—was different from his wife. While he was very imaginative and sweet, he was also bumbling and almost always missing the main point of the conversation. Many agreed that he wouldn't be the successful man he was without his wife. The kids were even more different.

Jazz was completely her own person, always trying to push it into her parents to give up their life of ghost hunting so that they could be normal parents and better benefit society with their brains. She completely believed in facts, never once believing that ghosts existed. She had picked up her parents brains though, being a straight A student and blooming psychologist. She already had her pick of colleges and she was only in her junior year.

The boy, well, not much was known about Daniel Fenton. He was the only quiet one in the family, very reserved, and often stunned people with his logic of the world. He was like a mini Sherlock Holmes sometimes, always find solutions to the problems adults found so daunting. He may not have been smart like his sister, but his sweet nature and quiet demeanor made him the most liked of the family. Many said he took mostly after his mother, having her body build as well as her achievement in the martial arts, but no one could figure out where he had gotten his humble character—the Fentons were anything but quiet and reserved.

As the morning wore on and the neighborhood kids got ready to catch the bus, the Fentons were busy trying to get the smoke out of their house.

"Danny, hun, turn on that fan and get the smoke to go through the window," Maddie instructed her youngest as she plugged in said fan.

The black haired freshman did as she said without question and turned the fan on, watching the blades whirl to life behind the metal netting and blow the smoke through the open window by the couch. Danny watched the smoke for a minute to make sure it would stay like this, and then moved to grab his school bag. Jazz was waving for him to move it at the front door. Danny nodded and tried to get his mother's attention.

"Mom?" he said quietly, tugging on her sleeve.

She stopped what she was doing to look at him.

"We're going now," Danny said in a hushed voice.

"Have a good day sweety," Maddie smiled at him. "We'll be sure to have the house cleaned up before you get home tonight."

Danny nodded, smiled back, and went out the door to catch a ride with Jazz to school.

The two siblings might have looked different—and had totally different characters, but with both of them being stuck in their parents' professions since birth, there was a strong bond between them. It was almost like fighting for survival in that house, never knowing when something was going blow up or implode on them. Danny always looked up to Jazz for help, not just with their parents, but with school now that he was starting highschool. Jazz always felt protective of her little brother as well, then again, everybody did. Danny was probably the weakest of them all. He was short for his age, shaggy hair slumping into his eyes, and a thin frame of a growing teenager, made him look every inch a wimp. Jazz always stood up for him when her parents couldn't. Her status at school made him almost untouchable, but she knew kids mocked him in the halls and that the football players sometimes roughed him up a bit, but Danny never talked about it.

"What Jazz?" Danny asked in his soft voice when he caught his sister staring at him.

"Nothing Danny," she said, reassuring him as she put her car in gear. "Just thinking about what happened this morning."

Danny didn't seem to believe her, but he let it go and strapped in. Jazz watched from the corner of her eye as he brought out his sketch book and started to doodle with his feet on the lip of the seat and his shoulders hunched down in concentration.

Jazz smiled fondly. Danny always found a way to escape this world though that battered book of his. He had always had one since Jazz could remember. He never once showed her the pictures he drew, but she always seemed to know when he was running out of paper. To be honest, she worried about his mental health with the bad influence of their parents screaming from every corner of that house, but she was surprised to see Danny coped just fine with having ghost obsessive-parents. He hadn't completely crawled out of the hole like Jazz had, but he was well on his way. With being the outcast and the weakest of the family, her parents hovered over him all of the time like he was a breakable vase.

"We can run by Hobby Lobby later after school if you want," Jazz suggested at a light. "Get you a new sketch book and some new pencils too. Plus it will give the house more chance to air out."

"Thanks Jazz, that would be great," Danny smiled, his weak voice piercing Jazz's heart.

Many wondered why Danny's voice was so soft. Many blamed it on the fact that he was shy, and he was, but it wasn't the reason. Danny had been premature at birth, and the chord had been wrapped around his neck, stopping the flow of blood and development of his vocal-chords from expanding fully. Other than that, Danny had been perfectly healthy. The doctors said it was a miracle that he didn't have brain damage.

Sometimes it was hard to understand Danny in a large room or if he was in trouble. Jazz remembered when Danny was five and he had accidently bumped his head on the end of the stove, tearing his skin open and blood was pouring everywhere. Their parents had been in the basement with the door closed and could hear his weak screams and cries for help. If it hadn't been for Maddie's bad feeling for her son, Danny might have bled to death that day on the kitchen floor. He had lost a lot of blood when Maddie found him nearly half an hour later however and Danny spent two days in the hospital to make sure he would recover. He still had the scars in the back of his head if people looked hard enough.

Jazz pulled up into the highschool parking lot and got out. Danny copied her and looked quickly around to spot his best friends. He saw Tucker waving at him from across the lot, standing next to him was Sam, giving a short wave then pulling her arm back down—Tucker kept on waving as if Danny still hadn't noticed him. Danny waved back to pacify his friend and walked up to them.

"Dude, was all of that smoke from your house?" Tucker asked, that goofy smile in place as he pointed over his shoulder towards the general direction of Fenton Works.

Danny looked and saw the column of smoke rising in the distance and nodded.

"Sweet!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Uh, it's not sweet," Sam interjected, looking ready to punch Tucker in the mouth. "All of that smoke is going to pollute the air, and contribute to the destruction of human life. How would you like it if you stepped out of your house and you were breathing in poison all of the time?"

Danny and Tucker looked at each other, knowing better then to answer her. With Sam on the subject of preserving the earth, it was just as bad as Jack blathering on about ghosts.

"I didn't think so," Sam said, turning around and walking towards the front doors of the building.

Danny and Tucker gave each other a knowing look and followed her into the school. They made it to their first period class without running into Dash, the school's most profound idiot and muscle head. Danny honestly thought that Dash had a problem with reality, thinking that his parents stuck him in front of the T.V. when he was little and polluted his brain.

That's probably why he was so good at sports—he just imitated the pros on television. Danny shook his head at the lunacy of it all and took his sketch book out. He messed around with a few ideas before the bell rang and their English teacher walked into the room.

Mr. Lancer was known for being overly dramatic and shouted out the names of classic book titles in place of curses. He was also overweight, bald, and in dire need of a back wax.

Lancer looked around the room of freshmen with almost trepidation and sighed heavily. Danny knew Lancer didn't want to be here, but to the boy, it didn't seem like the adult had much of a choice. Lancer monotone the whole lecture and assigned the homework by writing it on the board. By the time the teacher was done, there was almost fifteen minutes until the bell rang. All the teens turned in their seats to talk to one another while Lancer just sat in his chair and drowned himself in a book.

"Hey, dude," Tucker turned in his seat to look at Danny, "do your parents have that portal up and running yet?"

"Well, no," Danny said, wincing at the mention of the monstrosity down in his basement. "But they say that they're close. They're going to try tonight to get it running."

"Really? Sweet! Can I come and watch?"

"I don't know," Danny looked off to the side, not sure if Tucker being in his parents' dangerous lab was a good idea.

"I'll go with you," Sam spoke up from the side. "We can both keep Tucker out of trouble that way."

"Hey, I'm not a baby," Tucker protested, frowning at Sam. "You just want to see the ghosts Goth girl."

"Well duh!" Sam rolled her eyes. "How cool would it be if ghosts were real? This might change the whole world of science Tuck."

"Glad you think so," Danny muttered. "I really don't think it's going to work guys. I'm to use to their stuff failing and exploding around me all of the time."

"Yeah but you live there," Sam said, smiling at his doubt. "Something is bound to work at some point."

Danny didn't want to admit that she was right. After all, his parents couldn't fail _all _of the time. Well, his sister would disagree with him there. Reluctantly, he agreed to have Sam and Tucker come over to watch the big unveiling of the ghost portal—whether it worked or not.

All was well until the lunch bell rang. After first period, the trio had to split up and go to their separate classes, which meant Danny was bully-bait up until lunch hour. Normally, when the three were together, they would get bullied verbally—until Sam pinned them down with her glare and they were sent running. Tucker was more or less a distraction for Danny—the jocks tended to steal Tucker's PDA more often then shove them into a locker. Tucker always had spares so it was no big deal most of the time to be served as a distraction. With Danny on his own, it was survival of the fittest and Danny wasn't always lucky to come out on top.

Danny soon found himself cramped inside his locker and hearing the slam of the door behind him. Because of his small size, Danny fit perfectly into the school lockers, which was a bane on him because Dash loved to smash him into his own holding for his books and bag. Said jock was laughing in the hall right in front of Danny's locker.

"Dash, let me out!" Danny yelled, but it only came out as a harsh rasp that could barely be heard through the metal box.

Of course, Dash didn't hear and just left Danny standing awkwardly in the locker. Danny waited to see if he could hear anybody coming down the hall, but of course people would be in the cafeteria, eating lunch and having a good time. His only hope was either to bust out of here on his own, or to hope that Tucker and Sam noticed he was gone and got him out of here. Scratch that—his _only _hope of escape was to hope for Sam and Tucker to bust him out.

"I really need to get an air freshener in here," he mumbled to himself, unable to pinch his nose to block the smell of the highschool locker. "Come on guys, help me out here."

He didn't know how long he had to wait, but eventually, the lock turned and the door opened, making Danny fall backward and slam his back into the tile floor.

Sam and Tucker were standing over him, looking happy and concerned at the same time.

"You okay man?" Tucker asked, bending down to help Danny back on his feet.

"I'll be okay," Danny said, taking Tucker's arm. "Thanks for getting me out of there."

"You're welcome," Sam said simply, but she looked up at the clock on the wall. "We're going to be late though."

"I missed lunch hour?" Danny asked, whining because his now empty stomach was growling hungrily.

"Yep," Tucker handed Danny something wrapped in plastic. "You better stuff it before Lancer sees you with it."

"Thanks Tuck," Danny unwrapped the Twinky and shoved it into his mouth. "Let's go!"

The three made it to class just before the last bell rang and took their seats, looking around to make sure Dash wouldn't try something funny again. Tucker and Sam stuck by Danny throughout the rest of the school day and by the time they had to hand him off to Jazz, school was over and Dash and his companions were heading towards the football field for practice.

"I'm not a baby," Danny grumbled as his sister drove them home.

"I never said you were Danny," Jazz looked at him oddly. "Why do you think that?"

"Because you, Sam, Tucker, Mom, and Dad, think it's your job to protect me all of the time. I can take care of myself. I don't have to be body guarded."

Jazz looked at her brother, feeling sorry for him, but what he was saying she could deny. Danny couldn't take care of himself, and to be completely honest, she didn't know why. It just seemed that whenever he was alone, something always went horribly wrong. It had become habit to stand up for him, to protect him from himself, but now that Danny was older, he was fighting them, trying to make it on his own. Jazz feared that he never would be able to do that without serious consequences.

"I know Danny," Jazz said turning into their drive.

"No you don't," Danny grumbled, getting out before the car had been shut off. "You just don't understand."

"Hey Danny-boy!" Jack cried happily as his son came into the house. "How was school?"

"Same," Danny grumbled as he marched moodily up to his room.

Jack stared after Danny, confused as to why his son was so down. Jazz came in, not looking happy either.

"Did you two have a fight?" Jack asked as Jazz sat on the sofa dejectedly.

"Well, kind of," Jazz sighed. "Danny's just tired of people protecting him. He wants to stand up for himself."

"Well he can if he wants," Jack said, confused. "What's stopping him?"

"Dad, it's Danny's problem and I'm sure he can work it out," Jazz got up from the couch and hugged her dad. "Don't worry about it so much."

Jack watched Jazz go to her room and frowned at what she had said. Jack knew he could be forgetful sometimes—okay a lot of the time—but he would never forget his kids. If Danny was having a problem, he wanted to know.

"Danny?" Jack knocked on his son's door and waited for an answer.

Danny opened the door himself, looking better then when he had entered the house, but still pretty upset about whatever was bothering him. Jack smiled at his son, but Danny didn't return the look. Jack frowned then and motioned for Danny to go in, himself following.

"Is there something wrong son?" Jack asked, closing the door and watching Danny sit in his computer chair. "You can tell me. Are you getting bullied at school?"

"No," Danny said a little too quickly, but changed the subject to confuse his forgetful father, "I'm just tired of the hovering."

"What hovering?"

"Like what you're doing now. You guys act like I'm going to fall apart at the seams any second if you're not here to watch over me. I'm not three anymore Dad."

"Of course you're not Danny, you're ten!"

"Fourteen Dad," Danny said angrily. "I'm fourteen! I'm just small, but you don't need to be reminded of that."

Danny crossed his arms and looked at the tabletop of his desk. Jack sighed and put a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Danny, I was just joking with you. I know your age—your sister never lets me forget hers, so it's easy to remember yours, no matter how you look," Jack smiled like a goof even though Danny didn't see it. "And I'm sorry, maybe we are a little over protective of you."

"A little?" Danny scoffed. "I know I'm not as strong as Mom, or as smart as Jazz, or as big as you, but I can take care of myself! I can defend myself you know."

"Of course you can," Jack said, though inside he doubted it.

"No you don't," Danny said quietly. "Just leave me alone Dad."

Jack noticed that Danny wasn't angry anymore, but tired and fed-up. Danny could never stay angry long, it always seemed to tier him out more often than a run did. This is exactly why Jack thought Danny couldn't handle himself, he was never emotionally or physically strong enough to handle anything on his own.

However, the father did as Danny wished and left his room, wanting to talk to Maddie about this problem before anything else happened. Jack didn't like to see his son depressed and he wanted to help Danny badly, but he had a feeling that there was nothing he could do. Maybe it was like Jazz said, Danny had to figure this out on his own.

Deep in the place that humans call the Ghost Zone, an entity was watching the whole thing unfold in the present from his watch dais in his main room. The being known at Clockwork was a ghost not to be messed with for he was the Master of all Time. He could foresee events, alter events to make sure time came out steady and true, but the time was coming to where he would have to intervene in the life of this young man.

"You search for a freedom you yourself can't understand," Clockwork spoke to the image of Danny Fenton, holding his head in his hands at the desk. "I am about to grant you that freedom, but I'm afraid it is not up to me entirely."

Clockwork looked up, at the spiraling pool above his head. It glowed with a heavenly light and whoever looked upon it felt great mystery and peace at the sight, everyone except Clockwork, for he knew what the rotating pool was.

"I know what will ensue if you are given this gift," Clockwork brandished his staff at the dais and the image of a glowing, white-haired teen took up the picture where Danny once was. "You will grow to be a great warrior, one who's strength and heart none can match in a lifetime, but great dangers also lay for you in this path. If you are denied this gift however," the scene changed again, but with a picture of pure destruction and shadow. "What say you Destiny? Is the boy acceptable?"

"You have found a great link in Time's chain," a booming voice echoed all around the chamber. "I do not like the thought of such power in a teenager's hands."

"But he is a link nonetheless, with or without power," Clockwork argued. "You are more powerful then I, what say you?"

The rotating pool above Clockwork began to shift, as if in uneasiness. Then it vanished without reason.

"Do what you see fit," the voice faded with the pool.

"Very well," Clockwork said, smiling slightly. "Young Daniel shall be our new Phantom."


	2. Chapter 2

**_No light bulbs were harmed in the making of this fic. _**

* * *

Chapter 2—

"Wow Mr. Fenton, that is one big hole," Tucker said, looking at the giant machine built around the center of the hole in the Fenton's basement.

Everyone was there—Jazz and Danny grudgingly. The two siblings were off to the side so they wouldn't get blasted when the whole thing failed. Sam and Tucker were up close with Maddie and Jack, looking into the depths of the machinery and imagining what it might bring once powered.

"This baby is sure to rip a hole into all reality for sure," Jack said, very pleased with upsetting the balance of the space-time continuum from the comfort of his home.

"Jack, come help me make sure these are all plugged in correctly," Maddie asked from the inside of the portal, her ankles wrapped in orange extension cords.

Sam and Tucker walked over to Danny and Jazz, to keep out of the way as well. Stuff in the Fenton's basement could become a might unpredictable.

"Isn't this cool guys?" Sam asked, a smile for once lighting up her face. "Even if this portal doesn't rip a hole into the Ghost Zone, it's still a scientific achievement."

"It's only an achievement if it works," Danny groused. "I think Mom and Dad just drilled a hole for nothing."

"I concur," Jazz agreed. "It's about time they did something other than try and get into where the ghosts live. Seriously, what's the point of all of that? Doesn't that mean they'll just come out and terrorize the earth. If ghosts were real, then this would be a stupid idea."

"Then what do you call it now since they are doing it?" Tucker asked.

"An idiotic idea," Jazz smiled at her cleverness, but Danny only rolled his eyes and shook his head at the ceiling.

"Okay kids, stand back!" Jack shouted a warning as he and Maddie came out of the portal and over to the control.

The teens joined them behind the consol and watched as the adults pulled various knobs and switches.

"Power at maximum," Maddie reported over the whirring of the gears.

"Let's light this baby in three, two, one!"

Jack pressed a button eagerly and everyone had their eye on the portal. A small spark started in the center of the hole, slowly working its way to expanding to the edges of the machinery. Everyone's eyes were wide and their hearts were hammering. It was working—it was actually working. Suddenly, the whole thing shrunk back in on itself and all was silent.

"Ah shoot!" Jack pounded his fist on his controls.

His anger caused something to happen however. The portal whirred back to life without warning and a great light was building up in its center very rapidly.

"Take cover kids," Maddie warned them, pushing Danny down to the floor.

The others followed suit, crouching behind the consol and protecting their heads with their arms as if in an air raid. However, they didn't know that it wasn't going to explode. The light sat there, as if waiting to pounce on something. Danny could see it through the small gap between the consol and the wall.

"It's not doing anything," he told his family. "Maybe there's a glitch."

"Danny stay down," Jack warned his son, but Danny was already on his feet looking at the light.

It shined brilliantly, its reflection bouncing off of the metal in the portal and making the teen squeeze his eyes so he could see this mystery. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Danny could see many small white lights dancing around in the green glow, like fireflies in a large pool. The light also seemed to move in its confined space, swirling and moving like a river would.

"Wow," Danny whispered, never laying eyes on such a find.

The light turned towards him once Danny spoke. The teen's eyes were large plates as the light bounced from the portal and straight at him. It had been so quick that not even his family saw what had happened, but Danny was sure of it. His whole world had lit up like a nuclear blast then suddenly, he was facing a swirling green vortex that wasn't as brilliant as the light.

His family got up, unaware of what had just happened to their smallest member. Sam and Tucker looked at Danny to make sure he was alright before turning eyes to the portal.

"AHAHAH!" Jack boomed happily, picking up his wife. "It works baby! IT WORKS!"

Jazz stood there baffled. Sam and Tucker had growing grins at this discovery, but Danny was still in space, shocked at what he thought he saw. He touched his chest, certain that there was a gaping hole there, but he was intact. He didn't feel different either, just a little weak in the knees from the shock. His father's laughter brought him back to the present and he noticed that green inside the portal. A grin was on his face too as he realized that his father achieved his dream since college—to create a rip in reality and find the home of the ghosts.

"Great job Dad," he said, but his soft voice was unheard since Jack was still gawking at the portal.

"We… we got to run more tests," Jack got out. "Kids, back upstairs. Who knows what kind of mad-ectoplasmic entities are going to come out of there."

"Your father is right," Maddie said from the side. "We have to make sure all of the systems are functioning before we can do more. Upstairs, and Danny get to bed. You're looking a little pale."

"I'm just tired," Danny avoided her hand as she tried to take his temperature. "I'll be fine."

The kids headed up the stairs while the adults started to mess around in the lab, Jack muttering about this and that and Maddie glancing at Danny as he shut the door to the basement.

"I think Mom's right Danny," Jazz said looking him over. "You do look a little sick."

"I don't feel bad," Danny said, looking at his hands. "Maybe it's just from the shock of the portal working. After all, it's the first thing that's worked in I don't know how long."

"It's getting late anyway," Sam said, shoving Tucker over to the front door. "We should be heading home. Get some sleep Danny."

"I'm fine!" Danny yelled as best as he could when Sam shut the door.

"Calm down," Jazz put a hand on his shoulder. "She didn't mean it like that. It is late, and we do have school in the morning."

Danny nodded, feeling the exhaustion of the day, and climbed up the stairs. Jazz watched him as he went down the hall and shut the door to his room. Jazz only sighed and went to bed herself, knowing her parents wouldn't get any sleep themselves.

* * *

Once inside his room, Danny slid down the length of his door and sat on the floor, panting for an unknown reason. He _had _been fine in the basement, but as the minutes dragged by, he started to feel more and more drained like a beach ball deflating because of the giant hole someone had poked in it. He also couldn't get that light out of his head. The more he thought about it, the more tired and shaky he felt.

"I just need some sleep," he told himself, trying to get on his feet. "I just need some sleep."

He managed to drag himself to his toes and somewhat walk over to his bed. Once his head hit the pillow, he was out faster than a light.

* * *

The light was back, bouncing around the inside of his dreams, as if searching for something and having a hard time of finding it. Danny approached it warily, the darkness surrounding him giving great unease. He didn't even see a floor to walk on, yet his legs moved and he felt something solid under shoes to keep him aloft in this strange place. The light stopped moving when Danny came within an arm's length of its light. The thing seemed to turn to face him, but Danny couldn't tell if it even had a front. He stopped when the light stopped, unsure of what to do.

He didn't even know what he was doing. He had no plan, not even the faintest idea on what to do with this thing that was invading his dreams. On some higher level, Danny knew that this wasn't a dream, that the light was in his head and he was confronting it now in a very real way.

The light hovered and seemed to stare at him as if it had eyes. Danny stared back, captured by the beauty and yet terrified at what it was doing in him. He hadn't imagined what had happened in the lab, the light came at him, but Danny felt that it hadn't attacked him. This thing had no mind of its own, he was sure of it. It was like a robot, following orders from someone else, but what it was doing here was what had Danny worried.

"What do you want?" Danny spoke to it, but he got no answer back.

The light hovered closer however at the sound of his voice, as if intrigued by it. Danny let it get closer, hoping to find a solution to this problem. The light didn't provide any answers, but as it got closer, Danny unconsciously put his hand out to touch it. Once skin and light came in contact, Danny woke up.

* * *

"Danny!"

The boy bolted from bed, surprisingly his heart wasn't racing and he wasn't drenched in sweat. He shook his head to clear it as he looked at his clock and noticed the time.

"Danny get up! You're going to be late!" his father's loud voice warned him.

"Shoot!" Danny gasped, throwing his blanket off and running into his closet to find something to wear.

He did take the time to notice he had slept in his clothes. He hoped his mom wouldn't find out about that. The he remembered the portal and what had happened the night before. He shook his head, smiling at the absurdity of it all. It had just been a dream. The light had been the last thing on his mind so of course it would be in his dreams.

Down stairs, he ran into the kitchen and grabbed an apple before grabbing his bag and following Jazz out the door.

"Love you, bye!" he yelled quickly to his parents before shutting the door and heading for the car.

"You were tired," Jazz said noticing her brother's disheveled appearance. "I know you like your hair messy, but could you at least put a comb through it."

Danny glared at her and ran his fingers though his hair rather quickly.

"Can we go now?" he asked, reaching for the door handle.

His body had been expecting to hit something solid, but when he grabbed air, he stumbled forward slightly in shock. This time, he let his eyes lead him to the handle but as he made a grab for it, his fingers past right through the metal. Danny froze on the spot and stared at the handle as if it was playing a trick on him. He tried again, but his fingers past through it again as if it was smoke.

"What is going on?" he muttered to himself, trying again without success.

"Danny, get in the car," Jazz told him, who was already in the vehicle.

"I can't get the door open," he said, making a grab and still nothing.

Jazz rolled her eyes and opened the door from the inside, nearly hitting Danny in the process.

"Thanks," Danny said with nothing of the definition behind his tone.

He reached for the seatbelt, but hesitated, wondering if his hand was really going through things, or if it was a trick of the light outside. When Jazz started the car, he had no choice. He grabbed the seatbelt and pulled it over his torso, hearing the click as Jazz pulled out of the drive.

_It must have been a trick, _he told himself in his head. _You have nothing to worry about._

* * *

Danny was able to get out of the car and into his classroom without any trouble on his account. The tripping feet in the hallway however was a different cause. Lancer didn't tardy him, seeing the evidence himself and Danny was grateful for it.

That's where the day began to slide down hill.

"Mr. Fenton, are we having a problem?" Lancer asked the boy, finding very distracting to teach when Danny was constantly fumbling with his pen in his note taking.

The youngest Fenton looked up, noticing all eyes on him now. He couldn't control the heat that rose to his face as the class snickered at him.

"No problem sir," Danny said quietly, his teacher barely catching what he had said.

In truth, Danny was having a very hard time; his pen firmly refused to stay in his hand. Every time he reached for it, it would slip out of his fingers as if his hand wasn't there to pick it up. His hand also went through the desktop many times as well because of this, and it was beginning to freak him out.

_What is going on with me? Is this all a dream? _

"You okay man?" Tucker asked him after class was out. "You were acting a little weird."

"I'm fine," Danny lied, though not convincingly.

When they came up to his locker, he took a deep breath, hoping that nothing would happen. He tried on concentrating to keep his hand solid long enough to fill out his combination. To his great surprise, it worked. He felt his hand become normal and at the touch of the locker, a mild shock went through him, as if he had never touched a metal object before. Shrugging it off, he undid his lock, grabbed his books, closed the door again. Sam and Tuck didn't comment on anything as he did this, so they must have not noticed a thing.

Sam kept an eye on him though as they walked down the hall, stopping just before they had to split up for their classes.

"You would tell us if something was wrong, right Danny?" she asked him.

"Of course I would," Danny said, knowing that he would tell them if this continued beyond today.

Sam looked in his eyes, trying to detect the lie. Danny however, saw something else. He felt rather then saw, something in Sam, something dark and secluded. She pulled away before he had a chance to figure what was going on and what exactly he had felt in his friend. By the time he came back fully into the world, Sam and Tucker were gone and he was standing in the hallway by himself like an idiot.

"Crap, I'm going to be late."

Danny ran to class, just missing the bell. He took his seat with a sigh and laid his head on the desk. He heard the students shuffling around in their seats, talking to each other and waiting for class to start.

"Alright class," Mr. Falooca said, as Danny raised his head from the desktop, "settle down now. It's time to get on with a pop quiz."

The whole class groaned in agony and boredom. Mr. Falooca started to get the papers out, but as he looked around the class, the little man looked puzzled.

"Has anyone seen Mr. Fenton?" the teacher asked the kids.

Everyone shook their heads, some giving glances in Danny's normal seat. However, that's where he was sitting.

"I'm right here!" Danny shouted, but it seemed he wasn't heard.

"I saw him earlier," a girl spoke up. "He looked really pale and sick."

"Perhaps he went to the nurse," Mr. Falooca said to himself. "If anyone see's Mr. Fenton, please let him know of this quiz so he can make it up."

"I'm right here!" Danny shouted angrily. "Listen to me!"

The lights in the room flared brightly before bursting and sending the area into darkness. Some of the students screamed and others gave startled jumps. Mr. Falooca, true to his chicken nature, screamed and ducked under the desk. When all was quiet, he came back up and looked at the ceiling.

"Well that was abnormal," he said, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "Oh Mr. Fenton, there you are."

Danny hardly acknowledge his teacher as he was too busy looking at his hands. He felt power course through his veins with his anger, so powerful that he was sure he had cut the bulbs short of life somehow. His hands were in his lap, semi transparent. He watched as they became fully solid and looked up at his teacher laid the quiz under his nose.

"You look horrible Danny," Mr. Falooca said, looking at his student with concern. "Don't you want to go see the nurse?"

"I think I would like that," Danny said, methodically getting up and getting his bag.

"I'll call down ahead and let them know you're coming."

Danny nodded and left the room, the eyes of the students following him out the door.

_What is wrong with me? _

He couldn't deny it any longer, something was up, and it had to do with that creepy light. As if called, the light seated itself in the forefront of his mind, making him stop right in the middle of the hallway. The light swirled as normal, seeming to look at him with no eyes or face whatsoever. If Danny didn't know better, he would swear he was looking at it from the outside, but he knew that he was looking at it in his mind. The whole world had become black again, just like his dream last night.

"I wish you could talk," Danny told the light. "I would really like some answers here."

The light remained silent.

"Get out of me! I don't want you here."

The light jerked forward, making Danny back up a step in fright.

"You have no choice young human," a booming voice echoed around him. "You are to accept these gifts and use them for the benefit of mankind."

Danny was silent, staring at the light without words to say.

"But I don't want them," Danny stated, wondering if this was another dream.

"We must all do things we don't want child."

Danny was suddenly back in the hallway of Casper High, no light in sight. He looked around, trying to get his bearings back.

"I really got to get some answers from that thing," he muttered to himself as he dragged his feet to the nurse's office.

* * *

The nurse found his temperature very low and energy levels very low as well since he looked ready to fall over when he got to her office. The nurse made him lay down and she called his parents to come and get him. Danny was dozing on the cot when the large roar of his dad's personal vehicle came to his ears.

"Great, the RV," Danny mumbled into the pillow.

Danny was still as he listened to the large grindings of the Ghost Assault Vehicle—as his father so rightly named the monstrosity—as it came up into the school parking lot and smashed more than a few fenders. He could just imagine the tire tracks on the sidewalk as well.

Before long, his mom came into the office and got him.

"I knew you were goin' to get sick," she said as they walked outside, her worry making her accent very thick and undecipherable to those around them. "I should have kept you at home."

"Ma, please," Danny begged her, leaning against her arm for support. "I just want to go home."

"Of course dear," she quickly agreed when she saw how pale her son looked. "Your father is waiting in the car."

Danny was in a daze the whole way home. He barely registered the three red lights his dad ran and how off course they had gotten when his father got sidetracked with a garage sale. About an hour later, they were back home. Danny went up to his room on his mother's orders and flopped into bed, but he found sleep impossible.

This day was bothering him too much to sleep. His hand falling through solid objects, his teacher failing to notice him in class and how the light bulbs suddenly burst them into darkness, and how he had saw something in Sam but still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. This day made no sense whatsoever.

He gasped as fallen sensation gripped him and he found himself under his bed. He coughed to get rid of the stale air from his lungs and looked around, bewildered at what had just happened. He rolled out from under the bed, staring at the ceiling as if it held answers.

"I phased through my bed?" he asked himself.

He got up and checked the mattress, making sure there was no hole there. It was as solid as he could tell. He put his hand forward to check the stability, but his entire arm ended up going through the sheets. He squeaked in surprise and jumped back, holding his hand as if it was injured. After a minute, he looked at his arm and back at the bed.

"What is going on?"

He went back over to the bed and put his hand forward again. As expected, his whole arm past through the sheets. He took it back out and looked at his hand again. Then he remembered his locker that morning. He concentrated on making his hand solid, he wanted to feel the bed. He was grated the wish, his hand felt the mattress and bounced back on the coils.

"Cool," he said to himself, a small smile on his lips, "but this is totally wrong. Humans shouldn't be able to do this, only ghosts—"

He stopped himself before he could complete the sentence. Only ghosts could pass through solid objects as if they were nothing. He looked at himself in his mirror, seeing how pale he was and how brightly his eyes showed, even in the dimness of his unlit bedroom. He did look like a corpse.

"Am I dead then?" he asked the mirror.

"No," the reflection spoke.

Danny jumped and put a hand over his barely beating heart. Did his mirror just speak to him?

"What did you say?" he asked the reflection.

"I said you aren't dead," the reflection crossed his arms and had a knowing look on his face. "You've been granted a great gift."

"This is a curse!" Danny shouted, demonstrating as his arm went through the dresser top as he leaned forward to confront the mirror. "And I'm going crazy."

"No, you simply know how to communicate to us now," the reflection shook his head. "For centuries our worlds have been connected, but for a long time, the only way of communication was through the mirrors. That's why a lot of people think there is a parallel dimension between your world and mine."

Danny blinked in confusion before asking; "So I'm not going crazy?"

"No," the reflection said, rolling his eyes. "I just thought talking to you through your own reflection might be easier then talking in my true form."

"Whatever floats your boat," Danny shrugged, finding it very surprising that he hadn't fainted or screamed for his parents to come in here and get rid of the demon possessing his mirror—or perhaps he really was going insane. "I really don't care at this point. Today has just been so weird."

"Awe yes, it will take a while to get use to the powers," the reflection said somewhat simply. "But that's what I'm here for."

"To get rid of them?"

"To help you use them. You will have to learn some things on your own, but you have to know the rules first before you go stumbling through your life with them."

Danny shook his head, not believing any of this. This couldn't be happening.

"First, you have to activate them."

"Okay, how?" Danny asked putting his hands on his hips.

"The light in your head, it's been trying to get you to listen to it. That is your power. You need to embrace it, pretend that you are letting it fill you to the brim. Wearing it like a suit, then ball it back up when you need to be normal."

"So this power will change me and my appearance?" Danny asked, catching the last half of the reflection's—or whatever the heck it was—sentence.

The reflection nodded.

"Okay then, just like wearing a suit?" Danny figured that if nothing happened, he really was going insane.

"Yes, just try it."

Danny sighed and tried to find the light in his head. It came without beckoning, at the ready. Danny thought about what he wanted the light complied, engulfing him in its light. After a quick flash, Danny opened his eyes and looked critically in the mirror.

It was still him, he was sure, but he had white hair and bright green eyes that swirled with the same intensity as the light did. His outfit was different too, he noticed he was wearing a striped shirt that was white and lime-green, a small black hooded jacket with short sleeves and deep pockets on his shoulders. His jeans were black and tucked into white and green boots, the top clasps of the boots green along with the ankle clasps as well as the souls.

"What's with the wardrobe change?" Danny asked the reflection.

"It comes with the powers, get use to it," the reflection answered. "Now, the only way to get use to this whole thing is to practice with them. Go outside and have a little fun, your parents won't notice that you're gone."

"This is so wrong," Danny went over to his window and saw that there was no way to get out of the house from here, and he couldn't go walking through the front door looking like this. "This has to be a dream."

"Let your instincts take you," the reflection urged. "You have a brand new set of them along with your humans ones and you have to know how to use them."

"Instincts?"

"What happened with your female friend this morning? What did you see?"

Danny was instantly reminded of the look in Sam's eye and by some unknown power, he said—"Her secrets, I saw something about her secret home life—but I didn't get much."

"That's because that is one of your powers that runs only by instinct, you can't control that one, but that is the feel of your ghostly instincts. Remember that feeling and you'll be alright."

Danny let the memory of the feeling run through him, and soon his entire body was lighting up like a light bulb, a white hue surrounding him and making him feel more powerful than he ever thought possible. He became weightless and pushed off the ground, hovering over the floor.

"Awesome," he said, looking out the window at all of that open sky. "This is going to rock."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3—

Danny shot out of the house like a torpedo from a submarine. The weightlessness of flight making him giddy and excited to the point where he had lost all common sense and logical abilities. This freedom was so intoxicating—making him feel like this is what he had wanted all along—a special secret of his own. The sight was amazing as he flew over the ops center and floated just above the silver roof. The whole town was larger than he thought; he could even see the river that separated Amity Park and Elmerton from where he was. The sun was still high since it wasn't even noon yet and he knew he had a few hours to fly around before his parents were come out of the basement and wonder where he was.

He heard something to his left and looked over to see the trouble. It was Ms. Benson, their crabby single lady neighbor. She was out clipping her giant hedges again, her giant scissors making the noise that had distracted him.

"Hi Ms. Benson!" he shouted, waving from above the ops center.

The lady stopped clipping and looked over her shoulder, wondering who had called her. She shrugged, muttering about stupid kids, and went back to moodily clipping her plants. Danny, after realizing his mistake, clamped a hand over his mouth. He was also surprised at how far his voice had carried. He wondered why that was, however, exploring wouldn't wait.

Ignoring the uninteresting neighbor, he shot forwards and headed in some random direction to test his new abilities.

The wind ran through his hair, pulling the shaggy length back along his hairline. He held his fists out in front, a straight line of black and white in the clear morning sky.

"This is so cool!" Danny spun sideways, instinctively catching another updraft to carry him further in the air. "Mom and Dad would so totally freak right now."

At the thought of his parents, his mind when dark and he came back down to earth—quiet literally. As soon as his thoughts turned to his parents, it was as if someone had put the gravity back on for him, only he was impossibly high in the air when that happened. He yelled, dropping faster then he thought was physically possible. He tumbled over the currents, trying to get his flight back but nothing he tried worked.

"Crap!" he yelled in the air. "What do I do? What do I do?"

He remembered how it had felt to fly. Completely wreak-less, no care in the world whatsoever, freedom that you could practically breathe—he had to think like that, had to feel that. When his thoughts turned back to that freedom—the freedom of the skies—he felt his body become weightless again and he stopped his decent. He was twenty feet from the ground when his flight kicked back in from his nosedive. He brought himself back up, seeing that he almost ran straight into a van that was coming straight at him. He yelled and covered his face, but his body compensated for the solid metal of the vehicle and turned him intangible, letting him pass right through unharmed.

"Oh," Danny said, hovering over the street when he realized he was intact. "That's beneficial."

He gained altitude, for safety measures, and decided to land on a roof and figure things out before he went too far. He landed on top of an office building and dangled his legs over the sides, watching traffic buzz through the streets.

He hadn't noticed the change in his eyesight either until he slowed down and decided to think. The whole world was in black and white now, with slight green discharges from energy signatures—like the exhaust of a car or the many computers being used in the building below him right now. Anything that gave off energy was in a bright green to his eyes while the rest of the town was like an old cartoon. There were no shadows, only black and white lines, but it was surprisingly easy to see and disconcert everything from where he was.

This was only more of a reminder of why he had stopped flying.

"Mom and Dad are so going to freak," he mumbled to himself. "If they ever find out about this, I could become a science project, they'll take these powers away. But, who says that they need to know?" the thought introduced itself at the thought of losing his new freedom. "Who says that any of them have to know?"

Then Sam entered in his mind—about when she had asked him in the hallway if he would tell them if something was wrong. Well, nothing was wrong in a way, just different, but he would feel bad if he kept this from Sam and Tucker. They had been his best friends since forever, they didn't keep secrets from each other—well important ones. He would have to tell his friends—now Jazz. Jazz would just get overprotective like their parents—she would rat him out, thinking it was for his own good. She couldn't be told, and he wasn't sure if he could ever tell his family about this at all.

Sighing, he got back up and thought about freedom, the weightlessness of flight, and he was off again.

After a while, he figured out how flying worked. To be able to lift himself up into the air, he couldn't just think about flight, he had to think about how it felt to him—just like his reflection instructed. The feel of flight gave him the ability of flight, so maybe half of this ghost stuff was all in his head. He knew that to make himself solid, he had to think about what it felt to be solid, the feelings that came with being human and held down by gravity. So to become intangible—

Danny got down closer to the skyline of the office buildings he was hanging around and spotted a large satellite dish atop one of the roofs. It was light enough to where he wouldn't get seriously injured if this didn't work. He came down close to it and thought about going through the plastic, at how he wanted to become anything but solid. A sliver of doubt entered his mind that he couldn't do this, but he wanted to see if his theory was correct.

His face slammed into the dish, making him fall the few short feet to the roof. He sat up and rubbed his abused nose, staring at the dish in distain. So much for that plan.

Sighing, he got back to his feet and wiped the dust off of his backside. Deciding he should probably get back before his parents thought something was up, he lifted himself in to the air was ease and started for home. He past a few billboards on the way, many proclaiming the stress-free life the town, others were advertisements for entertainment. One was for a Circus Gothica that Sam was raving about—they were supposed to be coming sometime in March and Sam was dead set on going to go see it. Others were for the concert Ember McLain was giving at the stadium in October and Axion Lab's job openings.

* * *

He spotted home in the distance and started to fly in that direction, but something made him turn his head over to his left, towards the old building of Axion Labs. Recently, they had to move the large facility to the new buildings across town—thus the need for new workers—and the old building was still in debate in city hall. Many weren't sure what to do with it so for now it sat there and collected rumors about itself.

"Always did want to see what was over there," Danny shrugged, all thoughts about home forgotten.

As he came closer, his vision picked up small bugs as they crawled across the white debris of one of the walls of the old building. A storm had ripped through the town recently, causing the old building a large amount of damage. That was why it was closed off, large chain fences and gates padlocked to keep out intruders. All Danny had to do was fly over the barbwire twisted atop the fences and land in what use to be the parking lot.

The whole building was white to him, the corners and roof black and the bugs changing color as they crawled from roof, to wall and back. If they crawled up to the black, they turned white, if they crawled to the white, they turned black. However, what grabbed Danny's attention was the slight green glow inside the compound. If this place was abandoned, then why was something going on in there?

Danny walked through the debris as if it wasn't there and headed inside the creepy building. That feeling that made him turn off course was getting stronger as he headed closer to that green glow. Then it vanished without warning. Danny stopped, hands forward and knees bent as if he was ready for an attack. A great sense of warning washed over him as he listened to every creak and squeak of the building.

There, a growl—right below him.

Danny shot up and to the side as a large green animal broke through the surface of the cement flooring. Danny covered his face so the flying floor could scratch him up, but he had instinctively gone intangible again so the chunks passed right through him. He removed his arms and looked through the dust, trying to find what had attacked him. He had his back to a wall so he figured it was in front of him, but that thing had just broken a cement floor as if it was cardboard.

He was flung forward, face-planting on the cold floor as that same something attacked through the wall he had his back too. He turned onto his back and froze. He had to lean back to look into its face, those slobbering jaws and beady red eyes looked down on him as if they were ready to kill him. The whole body was glowing green, that same white aura around it as it was around Danny.

"A ghost dog?" he whispered to himself as the dog came close and began to sniff him.

As the dog got up close and sniffed his hair, Danny saw the black studded collar around its neck, the Axion symbol printed on the tag.

"A ghost guard dog," he realized. "They must have gotten rid of the old security system with the move."

The dog's eyes came back to him and the thing growled, shaking the ground and making Danny tremble.

"I'm trespassing aren't I?" he asked the dog, but there was no way it could understand him.

The dog tipped its head, as if considering his question.

"I'll just be going then," Danny slowly backed up on his elbows and feet, trying to get away from underneath the giant dog.

The dog didn't move, but it followed him with its eyes and let him stand up on his feet. Danny watched, not trusting the animal to not jump and attack him, but as long as he made small movements and was quiet, maybe he could make it out of here intact. He slowly inched backwards, towards the way he had come in, but the dog followed him at the same speed, but it didn't seem to want to attack, only follow. Danny stopped and looked up at the dog questioningly, the dog stopped at the same time and stared as well.

"Are you following me?" Danny asked it.

The dog replied by wagging its tail happily. Danny looked at its face, trying to see what exactly the dog was thinking, but when he made contact with the eyes, he gasped. He felt like he was being pulled somewhere, but he didn't see anything and the scary thing was, he understood things he couldn't see and feel. He gasped again when it felt like he was being slammed back into his body, stumbling back a bit. He looked back up at the dog when the sensation past and realized something.

"You're lonely," he said realizing he had seen the dog's desires. "You just want someone to play with. You don't understand that you're—"

The dog whined and tipped its head again. Danny didn't complete his sentence, sure it would lead to a very angry dog if he said anything about death.

"You aren't going to hurt me," he said, floating up to eye level with the beast.

The dog became cross-eyed as Danny came closer to its face.

"I'll come back later tonight," Danny promised before heading through the crumbling ceiling.

* * *

Back home, he landed in his room and the light coiled back in on itself, changing him back to his old self. The reflection had no comment as he walked past the mirror and opened his door. His mother was in the living room, reading a book when he came down.

"You look better," she commented, smiling at him.

"I guess I just needed some rest," Danny shrugged, shocked it was so easy to lie to her like that.

"Are you hungry sweety?"

"Yeah, what do you have?"

Ten minutes later, Danny was enjoying homemade soup, his mother watching him critically.

"Did you have a good dream or something? You're really happy all of a sudden," she asked him.

"Uh, yeah, it was amazing, like flying," Danny said, smiling at his own inside joke. "Just like flying."


End file.
